After an exciting end to the women's college basketball season, attention shifts to the 2025 WNBA Draft.
College stars will play an important role in the 2025 WNBA season, which will be the league's longest ever at 44 games. The new season will also include more teams than ever before as the Golden State Valkyries will becomes the 13th program in the league.
Where will the top players land? Take a closer look at the WNBA draft order and top prospects below.
When is the 2025 WNBA Draft?
When: Monday, April 14 at 7:30 p.m. ET
Where: The Shed at Hudson Yards in Manhattan, New York
How to watch: ESPN
Who has the first pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft?
The Dallas Wings will make the first pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft after winning the draft lottery. The Seattle Storm and Washington Mystics will round out the top three picks, respectively.
The Mystics have a league-high three first round picks, followed by the Wings and Sun with two each.
Though there are now 13 teams in the WNBA, there will only be 12 picks made in the first round of the draft. The Las Vegas Aces do not have a first-round draft pick after it was rescinded by the league for violating league rules regarding player benefits.
How is the WNBA draft order determined?
The draft order is determined by the reverse order of the league standings from the previous season — except for the top four picks. The four teams that did not advance to the WNBA playoffs are entered into a draft lottery in order to determine the order of the first four picks in the draft.
The Wings have the No. 1 pick in the draft this year for the first time in franchise history. Though the Los Angeles Sparks had the worst record in the WNBA last season — and therefore the best odds to win the lottery — they wound up with the No. 2 pick, which they later traded to the Storm.
Who is likely to be selected with the No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft?
Just as Caitlin Clark was the presumptive No. 1 overall pick in last year's draft, UConn star Paige Bueckers is expected to be selected first in this year's draft. Bueckers, who is fresh off winning a national championship, averaged 19.8 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game over her four seasons with the Huskies.
Other top draft prospects include USC's Kiki Iriafen, Notre Dame's Sonia Citron, LSU's Aneesah Morrow and TCU's Hailey Van Lith.
Iriafen stepped up in a big way when star teammate JuJu Watkins suffered an ACL injury in the Trojans' second-round game vs. Mississippi State. After losing Watkins, Iriafen maintained her composure and led USC to a win with a season-high 36 points.
Because teammate Olivia Miles has elected to play another year at the college level, Citron is the top prospect coming out of Notre Dame. Citron was first-team All-ACC and ACC All-Defensive Team in her senior season, averaging 14.1 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists per ...
